Lobster is still too advanced for people's current diet.

After all, even the largest restaurant in Dongfang City—the Meilan State-run Restaurant—did not have lobster on its menu.

When Li Xiangdong sold the 1,000 jin of baby lobsters harvested by the Lijiapo Brigade, he also included recipes such as garlic baby lobster, spicy baby lobster, and hibiscus baby lobster.

To improve the well-being of the villagers, a small portion of all agricultural and sideline products produced in Lijiapo are kept and sold to the villagers as welfare at below-cost prices.

So this batch of Australian baby lobsters was no exception. Li Xiangdong specially bought a few to use in making a more difficult dish, Hibiscus Baby Lobster.

......

It's early July now, and the first phase of the new residential project in Lijiapo has been completed and handed over to residents. Everyone is happily moving into their spacious and bright new homes.

Those who missed the first wave looked on with envy at the newly built brick houses that sprang up from the ground, visiting their new homes several times a day, practically wearing down the threshold of the new houses.

Li Jin's family has also moved into their new house, and today is a wonderful day for their housewarming!

Around four in the morning, Zhao Sufang started kneading dough, steaming buns, sugar triangles, and dumplings in the kitchen of her new home. She did this for two reasons: first, to prepare the main dishes for the housewarming feast; and second, to follow old customs and inform the local earth god, the kitchen god, and some wandering ghosts that the new home had a master.

In the sweltering heat, cooking a meal in a large pot is enough to make you sweat profusely, let alone Zhao Sufang steaming so much dry food!

Fortunately, there is now a separate kitchen with double windows.

If it were still like before, with the stove in the main room, after steaming just a few batches of buns, the room would become unbearably hot.

Even so, Zhao Sufang was covered in sweat.

Li Xiangdong told her to go outside and cool off while he started the fire. Zhao Sufang, while working the bellows, said, "This is the last batch, so don't come in. Go check if we have enough tables and benches!"

There are a lot of people coming today, so we need to set up more tables and prepare extra chairs and stools.

Li Xiangdong responded and left. A moment later, Zhao Sufang lifted the pot lid at the exact moment, and a burst of white steam rushed out!

She shook the steam off the pot lid before propping it up against the wall.

As the steam dissipated, a pot of plump, white steamed buns appeared before my eyes.

Zhao Sufang was overjoyed. All the steamed food she made today had risen perfectly, which was a good omen!

She picked up the bowl that was upside down on the stove, stirred the red color at the bottom of the bowl with chopsticks, then dipped the chopsticks into the red color and dotted each of the large white steamed buns with red dots.

She sorted the steamed buns, dumplings, and triangular candies into different categories and placed them on different bamboo mats, then covered them with tarpaulins. This way, when it was time to eat them at noon, the buns and dumplings would still be warm, just right for eating.

Li Jin and the others were busy killing chickens and fish. Li Ying had arrived yesterday and, together with Li Lan, took on the important task of cooking.

The family's breakfast was very simple; whoever had time would grab a steamed bun and eat it.

We were busy like this until around 10 a.m., when all the relatives and friends who were supposed to come arrived.

Some people brought vermicelli wrapped in red paper, some carried a fish, and some brought a bag of white sugar. Li Jin accepted them all with a smile. Gifts for a housewarming party don't need to be expensive; a token is enough.

Zhao Sufang also took a bath again, changed into clean and refreshing clothes, and entertained her female relatives.

The first step in a housewarming party is naturally to tour the new house.

When a guest comes, the two of them lead the guest around the house, inside and out. Even though they didn't leave the house that morning, they probably walked around 10,000 steps.

Li Jin and Zhao Sufang were tired but happy, patiently explaining the design ideas, labor, and materials used in each house to their relatives in other villages.

Yan Guohui came with the flood this time, along with the brigade leader and Lan Shixing from Quanshui Village.

Lan Shixing also made a small fortune through the black cabbage business, and now he is focused on making money with Li Jin and Li Xiangdong.

To get close to someone, you naturally have to build a relationship with them. So now, whenever there's a big or small event at Li Jin's house, he comes over to pay his respects.

After Li Jin led the two brigade leaders to inspect his home, they went to see the entire new village again.

The streets are neat and spacious, with half-meter-wide drainage ditches running alongside them. Behind the ditches are locust and elm trees, each about the thickness of a finger. Each family has a small plot of land in front of their courtyard, where they grow vegetables or fruit trees. The plots are kept completely free of weeds, and along the edges, landmines and sunflowers bloom in vibrant colors under the blazing sun.

Lan Shixing exclaimed, "Even the courtyards of landlords in the past weren't as nice as the ones in your village! Clean! Spacious! Beautiful!"

Yan Guohui said with envy, "If the people from our two villages saw your new house, they'd probably drown us in their spittle!"

Li Jin smiled modestly, "Oh, we're just feeling our way across the river first. With your abilities, building a new house is only a matter of time!"

Lan Shixing and Yan Guohui exchanged a glance and took the opportunity to talk about raising fish and shrimp.

......

In Li Jin's kitchen, the final dish for the housewarming banquet—Hibiscus Baby Green Dragon—was being prepared in earnest. Once again, Li Xiangdong was giving verbal instructions, while Li Lan was personally preparing it.

Li Xiangdong greatly admired his older sister's talent for food and was secretly planning to open a restaurant for her in a couple of years.

Is that so?

Li Lan held the little green dragon's tail with a towel, twisted it hard, and the tail was unscrewed.

"Yes! Now peel off the shell on the head and take out the shrimp roe inside."

Li Lan used a small spoon to scoop out the large pieces of shrimp roe and put them into a small bowl. Then she cut off the gills and removed the shrimp intestines. Next, she chopped the tender shrimp meat into small cubes about one centimeter square.

Heat oil in a wok, coat small pieces of shrimp meat with starch, fry them in the oil until cooked, and then fry the shrimp heads.

Li Xiangdong cracked a few local eggs into a small bowl containing shrimp roe, stirred it well with chopsticks, then added an appropriate amount of water and salt to taste, and steamed it in a pot until cooked.

"Big sister, you can't steam it for too long. You have to turn off the heat as soon as it gets very hot, otherwise it will be overcooked."

Li Xiangdong and Li Lan were explaining important matters.

Within minutes, the shrimp roe and egg dish was steamed. Because it had been stirred and left to settle for ten minutes, the steamed shrimp roe and egg dish was very tender and smooth, without any honeycomb texture.

Next, stir-fry the lobster meat. Put butter in a pan, sauté scallions and ginger until fragrant, then add water and salt to taste, thicken with cornstarch slurry, and stir-fry the fried lobster meat.

Stir-fry over high heat in a large wok, and it's ready to serve after a few quick stirs.

Arrange the stir-fried lobster meat neatly on top of the shrimp roe and eggs, then top with the bright red lobster head. The delicious and visually appealing "Hibiscus Baby Lobster" is now ready.

Besides this main dish, I also made braised fish, stewed chicken with mushrooms, and sweet and sour pork ribs today. The dishes on the table were almost comparable to a New Year's Eve dinner.

After everyone was seated according to gender, Li Jin and Zhao Sufang first thanked everyone for taking the time to come, and then told everyone to eat and drink well.

Just as everyone was about to start eating, a loud cry of a child came from outside the door.